http://www.fishiding.com
Tue, 31 Mar 2015 20:44:15 +0000http://www.fishiding.com/recent-fish-habitat-news/nfwf-awards-seneca-nation-grant-to-stabilize-shoreline-creating-fish-habitat-across-miles-of-the-allegany-reservoir-with-fishiding-habitat/
Tue, 10 Feb 2015 19:00:00 +0000http://www.fishiding.com/recent-fish-habitat-news/nfwf-awards-seneca-nation-grant-to-stabilize-shoreline-creating-fish-habitat-across-miles-of-the-allegany-reservoir-with-fishiding-habitat/Silt and sedimentation are clogging our nation’s waterways and reservoirs. Years of fluctuating water levels, erosion, development, nutrient loading and decomposition of natural materials, have put these waters in dire need of improvements. Fish habitat, which includes habitat for countless other equally important aquatic organisms, lacks to the degree on many U.S, waters, that no amount of fish stocking can improve the fishery. Without adequate habitat, the fish simply cannot survive.

I met Shane Titus, Seneca Nation of Indians Fishery manager over three years ago as we began to talk about fish stocking, fluctuating water levels and ways of improving overall fish habitat on the Allegany River/Reservoir. Shane contacted me directly to understand more about our artificial habitat products and working together with ways to improve his local conditions. Here is a man with a unique perspective on Tribal rights as well as American U.S./State policies. Proudly having an Indian mother and Italian father, his gentle blend of both “sides”, make it evident that he is a special and highly qualified man for this job. His utmost concern is for the land, waters and the creatures within, helping sustain this natural environment, which breathtakingly surrounds himself and his people in western New York.

Shane understands the benefits of adding habitat. He has installed habitat structures in the reservoir for many years and has a quite impressive reputation as a fisherman. “Because the reservoir is so lacking of good habitat, almost anything you add will usually hold some fish.” Prime habitat for all animals, including fish, focuses around diversity. All of the same is rarely best, no different than we humans see things. A less stressful environment grows healthy beings and fish health also is directly related to the stress they encounter surviving from fry through adulthood.

o best understand a healthy fish habitat, imagine a large tract of mature hardwood forest, noticing the plants from tiny grasses and ferns, up to shrubs, bushes and trees. Countless shapes, textures, densities and elevations provide unlimited choices of surroundings, depending on creatures needs. Tiny bugs and insects, utilize the fine forest floor, hiding and grazing on the abundant food available. Birds eat berries and some of those bugs, from the lower branches of bushes and undergrowth, while they defensively watch for danger from above or below. Deer, rabbit, and other small game enjoy the shade from the undergrowth as they hunt or rest. The bigger the tract of forest, the more variety and abundance animals it can/will sustain. Fish habitat is no different than a mature and healthy forest, requiring infinite variety to support diversity and abundance.

Increasing fish habitat groupings on a large scale creates unique areas and corridors for fish to flourish and increase in numbers, not simply attracting a few fish to the area for potential fisherman/predator fish to enjoy. The surface area of the habitat grows the food (periphyton) with more area being best and essential to a healthy eco-system. Tight, dense shaded areas are essential for small fish to hide and graze within the protection the substrate offers. Dense, ultra-fine cover at the water’s edge restores the once healthy mass of roots and aquatic plants, grasses and invertebrates that young fish need. Natural weed beds and large rocks once provided this surface area for periphyton and algae to grow, but now they have been lost to sedimentation.

]]>Silt and sedimentation are clogging our nation’s waterways and reservoirs. Years of fluctuating water levels, erosion, development, nutrient loading and decomposition of natural materials, have put these waters in dire need of improvements. Fish habitat, which includes habitat for countless other equally important aquatic organisms, lacks to the degree on many U.S, waters, that no amount of fish stocking can improve the fishery. Without adequate habitat, the fish simply cannot survive.

I met Shane Titus, Seneca Nation of Indians Fishery manager over three years ago as we began to talk about fish stocking, fluctuating water levels and ways of improving overall fish habitat on the Allegany River/Reservoir. Shane contacted me directly to understand more about our artificial habitat products and working together with ways to improve his local conditions. Here is a man with a unique perspective on Tribal rights as well as American U.S./State policies. Proudly having an Indian mother and Italian father, his gentle blend of both “sides”, make it evident that he is a special and highly qualified man for this job. His utmost concern is for the land, waters and the creatures within, helping sustain this natural environment, which breathtakingly surrounds himself and his people in western New York.

Shane understands the benefits of adding habitat. He has installed habitat structures in the reservoir for many years and has a quite impressive reputation as a fisherman. “Because the reservoir is so lacking of good habitat, almost anything you add will usually hold some fish.” Prime habitat for all animals, including fish, focuses around diversity. All of the same is rarely best, no different than we humans see things. A less stressful environment grows healthy beings and fish health also is directly related to the stress they encounter surviving from fry through adulthood.

o best understand a healthy fish habitat, imagine a large tract of mature hardwood forest, noticing the plants from tiny grasses and ferns, up to shrubs, bushes and trees. Countless shapes, textures, densities and elevations provide unlimited choices of surroundings, depending on creatures needs. Tiny bugs and insects, utilize the fine forest floor, hiding and grazing on the abundant food available. Birds eat berries and some of those bugs, from the lower branches of bushes and undergrowth, while they defensively watch for danger from above or below. Deer, rabbit, and other small game enjoy the shade from the undergrowth as they hunt or rest. The bigger the tract of forest, the more variety and abundance animals it can/will sustain. Fish habitat is no different than a mature and healthy forest, requiring infinite variety to support diversity and abundance.

Increasing fish habitat groupings on a large scale creates unique areas and corridors for fish to flourish and increase in numbers, not simply attracting a few fish to the area for potential fisherman/predator fish to enjoy. The surface area of the habitat grows the food (periphyton) with more area being best and essential to a healthy eco-system. Tight, dense shaded areas are essential for small fish to hide and graze within the protection the substrate offers. Dense, ultra-fine cover at the water’s edge restores the once healthy mass of roots and aquatic plants, grasses and invertebrates that young fish need. Natural weed beds and large rocks once provided this surface area for periphyton and algae to grow, but now they have been lost to sedimentation.

An exciting follow up to the first of two stories written about our habitat study in Wisconsin at Wild Rose State Hatchery. The first article explained the entire project in which hundreds of Fishiding habitat units were delivered and installed to grow "smarter"musky.

As the second follow up article states, the project was delayed due to the fish testing positive for Piscirickettsia-like organisms, or something called P.L.O disease in the Musky. The presence and importance of Piscirickettsia-like bacteria in mammals have been long recognized, but only in recent years could they be identified and characterized in aquatic animals. For this reason, it was not until the late 1980s that Rickettsia agents were linked with major diseases in fish, and subsequently attributed as the cause of substantial economic losses due to disease-related mortality in the 1990s. Piscirickettsiosis and piscirickettsiosis-like diseases have affected aquaculture productivity, profitability, species compatibility with commercial rearing, and fish transport.

Musky with the disease were first discovered in Lake St. Clair in the early 2000’s. It can appear as red spots or blotches on the fish. The WDNR asked them to hold onto the fish for further testing, which showed no definitive results of where or how they were infected. Although the fish appeared healthy, robust and happy, the Wisconsin officials regrettably had to decline the importation. A sincere feeling of disappointment spread through the various department offices, as the realization of waiting another year to begin the study solidified.

The great news is that the fish have been delivered and have been swimming happy for over a month now. Two ponds with habitat and two without for control comparison. We can hardly wait for the results to begin to come in. Weights, lengths and general health will be studied before release. The pit tags will keep track after that, helping us understand the survivalbility of the habitat raised fish vs. bare pond and the growth rates of each. Here's the WDNR recent press release about the project.

]]>

An exciting follow up to the first of two stories written about our habitat study in Wisconsin at Wild Rose State Hatchery. The first article explained the entire project in which hundreds of Fishiding habitat units were delivered and installed to grow "smarter"musky.

As the second follow up article states, the project was delayed due to the fish testing positive for Piscirickettsia-like organisms, or something called P.L.O disease in the Musky. The presence and importance of Piscirickettsia-like bacteria in mammals have been long recognized, but only in recent years could they be identified and characterized in aquatic animals. For this reason, it was not until the late 1980s that Rickettsia agents were linked with major diseases in fish, and subsequently attributed as the cause of substantial economic losses due to disease-related mortality in the 1990s. Piscirickettsiosis and piscirickettsiosis-like diseases have affected aquaculture productivity, profitability, species compatibility with commercial rearing, and fish transport.

Musky with the disease were first discovered in Lake St. Clair in the early 2000’s. It can appear as red spots or blotches on the fish. The WDNR asked them to hold onto the fish for further testing, which showed no definitive results of where or how they were infected. Although the fish appeared healthy, robust and happy, the Wisconsin officials regrettably had to decline the importation. A sincere feeling of disappointment spread through the various department offices, as the realization of waiting another year to begin the study solidified.

The great news is that the fish have been delivered and have been swimming happy for over a month now. Two ponds with habitat and two without for control comparison. We can hardly wait for the results to begin to come in. Weights, lengths and general health will be studied before release. The pit tags will keep track after that, helping us understand the survivalbility of the habitat raised fish vs. bare pond and the growth rates of each. Here's the WDNR recent press release about the project.

]]>http://www.fishiding.com/recent-fish-habitat-news/artificial-fish-habitat-improving-parks-in-orange-county-california/
Mon, 20 Oct 2014 19:00:00 +0000http://www.fishiding.com/recent-fish-habitat-news/artificial-fish-habitat-improving-parks-in-orange-county-california/Some California bass and panfish have new homes on their way to Carbon Canyon Regional park in Brea California, which has been recently dredged, sealed and getting ready for fishing. A number of flooding events had carried extensive amounts of sediment into the lake and filled it almost completely in. The lake has been reclaimed and water has been placed back in, awaiting arrival of the six different models of artificial fish habitat from Fishiding.com of northern Illinois.

The habitat manufacturer provides a fully patented line of artificial fish structures the consumer bends to shape, then tosses in lake or pond. Almost like an artificial christmas tree opens into shape out of the box, these units come in over 26 different varieties from 18" tall to over 15' in height. The self weighted fish attractors stand upright after being tossed in the water, due to the weighted "stump like" base. Bass gravitate to this natural feeling stump, fanning and creating beds to spawn next to them as they draw and hold warmth in the cooler spring temperatures.

Aquatechnex,LLC of Bellingham,Wa, services all of the Orange County lakes, incliding carbon Canyon. They were called in with requests to create a top knotch public fishing lake. Owner, Terry McNabb who also sits as president of the North American Lake Management Society, has the experience and staff to handle projects of all sizes, speciallizing in large scale waterways. Weed control, water quality testing, lake mapping, stocking and overall water health are the speciaties of this well established firm. Creating a one of a kind park setting fishing lake with heavy fishing pressure, Orange County residents will have no excuse to not catch fish. Fishing piers, open spaces and strategically placed habitat designed and installed for fishing access, will ensure abundant smiling faces from all anglers.

The key to a successful, abundant fishery is food and lots of it. Shallower areas of the lake will be set up as small fish and fry shelter. These structures will create areas where where a food web establishes and protects the vulnerable fry. From these areas, migration safety corridors to deeper open water will be set to allow forage fish some safety from predation, while concentrating predator species. A bass needs to eat 10 pounds of small fish to gain one pound in weight so growing the food is essencial to growing trophy gamefish.

Shallow models with dense protection provide hiding places for fry and forage fish, minnows and zooplankton. Over 600 shallow units in three different models will make up the 1'-4' littoral zone, where plants normally take root. We look at this area as the "grocery store", which needs the shelves stocked with food varieties before opening the doors for customers. Periphyton, the "fuzz" that grows on objects underwater not only provides the food needed for fish to graze on, but also works naturally to convert excessive nutrients into this "mother's milk" that all young of the year fish need in their first year of life.

A mixture of forage fish including sunfish and shad will be added first and allowed to establish themselves after placement of the new habitat structures. Bass will be added later, after the forage fish have had an oppourtunity to establish and begin to reproduce.

Mid depth structure provides the "teenagers" room to swim through, feed and still find protection from the biggest predators in the system. Like our growing teens, these fish are constantly eating and on the go, but have much to learn about life's dangers. The goal is to allow this size fish to have safety from bigger fish eating them before they gain more weight, providing Mr. Bass a good sized meal. Three hundred, 42"x84" Safehouse units will connect the important shallow breeding areas to the mid and deep water areas of the lake, each containing over 55 sq.' of shade and surface area. Dozens of 1"-4" pvc limbs branch out into abstract angles, creating "bushes", which as in nature, no two are alike.

The 6.5 Carbon Canyon acre lake will also have over 100 large, deep water structures to provide shelter and resting areas for large gamefish species. These coarse, tall and substantial units provide massive shade, tight spaces and variations of textures, normally found in nature that fish prefer.

Delivery is scheduled for the end of October, with installation soon thereafter.

]]>Some California bass and panfish have new homes on their way to Carbon Canyon Regional park in Brea California, which has been recently dredged, sealed and getting ready for fishing. A number of flooding events had carried extensive amounts of sediment into the lake and filled it almost completely in. The lake has been reclaimed and water has been placed back in, awaiting arrival of the six different models of artificial fish habitat from Fishiding.com of northern Illinois.

The habitat manufacturer provides a fully patented line of artificial fish structures the consumer bends to shape, then tosses in lake or pond. Almost like an artificial christmas tree opens into shape out of the box, these units come in over 26 different varieties from 18" tall to over 15' in height. The self weighted fish attractors stand upright after being tossed in the water, due to the weighted "stump like" base. Bass gravitate to this natural feeling stump, fanning and creating beds to spawn next to them as they draw and hold warmth in the cooler spring temperatures.

Aquatechnex,LLC of Bellingham,Wa, services all of the Orange County lakes, incliding carbon Canyon. They were called in with requests to create a top knotch public fishing lake. Owner, Terry McNabb who also sits as president of the North American Lake Management Society, has the experience and staff to handle projects of all sizes, speciallizing in large scale waterways. Weed control, water quality testing, lake mapping, stocking and overall water health are the speciaties of this well established firm. Creating a one of a kind park setting fishing lake with heavy fishing pressure, Orange County residents will have no excuse to not catch fish. Fishing piers, open spaces and strategically placed habitat designed and installed for fishing access, will ensure abundant smiling faces from all anglers.

The key to a successful, abundant fishery is food and lots of it. Shallower areas of the lake will be set up as small fish and fry shelter. These structures will create areas where where a food web establishes and protects the vulnerable fry. From these areas, migration safety corridors to deeper open water will be set to allow forage fish some safety from predation, while concentrating predator species. A bass needs to eat 10 pounds of small fish to gain one pound in weight so growing the food is essencial to growing trophy gamefish.

Shallow models with dense protection provide hiding places for fry and forage fish, minnows and zooplankton. Over 600 shallow units in three different models will make up the 1'-4' littoral zone, where plants normally take root. We look at this area as the "grocery store", which needs the shelves stocked with food varieties before opening the doors for customers. Periphyton, the "fuzz" that grows on objects underwater not only provides the food needed for fish to graze on, but also works naturally to convert excessive nutrients into this "mother's milk" that all young of the year fish need in their first year of life.

A mixture of forage fish including sunfish and shad will be added first and allowed to establish themselves after placement of the new habitat structures. Bass will be added later, after the forage fish have had an oppourtunity to establish and begin to reproduce.

Mid depth structure provides the "teenagers" room to swim through, feed and still find protection from the biggest predators in the system. Like our growing teens, these fish are constantly eating and on the go, but have much to learn about life's dangers. The goal is to allow this size fish to have safety from bigger fish eating them before they gain more weight, providing Mr. Bass a good sized meal. Three hundred, 42"x84" Safehouse units will connect the important shallow breeding areas to the mid and deep water areas of the lake, each containing over 55 sq.' of shade and surface area. Dozens of 1"-4" pvc limbs branch out into abstract angles, creating "bushes", which as in nature, no two are alike.

The 6.5 Carbon Canyon acre lake will also have over 100 large, deep water structures to provide shelter and resting areas for large gamefish species. These coarse, tall and substantial units provide massive shade, tight spaces and variations of textures, normally found in nature that fish prefer.

Delivery is scheduled for the end of October, with installation soon thereafter.

]]>http://www.fishiding.com/recent-fish-habitat-news/achfp-usfws-seek-fish-habitat-projects-for-2015-funding-/
Sun, 24 Aug 2014 19:00:00 +0000http://www.fishiding.com/recent-fish-habitat-news/achfp-usfws-seek-fish-habitat-projects-for-2015-funding-/More money for the fish! Get your paperwork together and fill out the forms to apply for a share of the newest habitat funding available.

The Atlantic Coastal Fish Habitat Partnership (ACFHP) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) are requesting project applications to restore and conserve habitat necessary to support coastal, estuarine dependent, and diadromous fish species. Federal funding available under the National Fish Habitat Partnership (NFHP) through the USFWS will be used to support the top ranked proposals. To ensure available funding is being directed most effectively, projects should be geared toward meeting ACFHP’s protection and restoration objectives described in its Conservation Strategic Planhttp://www.atlanticfishhabitat.org/Documents/ACFHP_Strategic_Plan_HighRes.pdf.

The maximum amount available for an individual project is $50,000. These funds can only be used for on-the-ground habitat conservation and improvement projects and associated design and monitoring activities. The number of projects funded will be dependent upon the amount requested and funding availability.

]]>More money for the fish! Get your paperwork together and fill out the forms to apply for a share of the newest habitat funding available.

The Atlantic Coastal Fish Habitat Partnership (ACFHP) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) are requesting project applications to restore and conserve habitat necessary to support coastal, estuarine dependent, and diadromous fish species. Federal funding available under the National Fish Habitat Partnership (NFHP) through the USFWS will be used to support the top ranked proposals. To ensure available funding is being directed most effectively, projects should be geared toward meeting ACFHP’s protection and restoration objectives described in its Conservation Strategic Planhttp://www.atlanticfishhabitat.org/Documents/ACFHP_Strategic_Plan_HighRes.pdf.

The maximum amount available for an individual project is $50,000. These funds can only be used for on-the-ground habitat conservation and improvement projects and associated design and monitoring activities. The number of projects funded will be dependent upon the amount requested and funding availability.

]]>http://www.fishiding.com/recent-fish-habitat-news/fishiding-joins-friends-of-reservoirs-to-improve-habitat-nationwide/
Mon, 18 Aug 2014 19:00:00 +0000http://www.fishiding.com/recent-fish-habitat-news/fishiding-joins-friends-of-reservoirs-to-improve-habitat-nationwide/Friends of Reservoirs would like to welcome Fishiding.com of Wonder
Lake, Illinois as a corporate sponsor. Fishiding uses reclaimed
construction material to make artificial fish habitat. Not only are these
products great for attracting fish but by using reclaimed material, Fishiding
is keeping these materials from filling up local landfills. David Ewald, owner
of Fishiding.com, has been active in the aquatic habitat restoration arena for
many years and has been an excellent source of information on habitat projects
and issues across the country. I use David’s postings and blogs to help keep me
informed on aquatic habitat restoration projects, particularly those relevant
to reservoirs.

Commercially available artificial structures have utility over
more traditional “brush piles’ in many situations. Many municipal water supply
agencies are reluctant to approve additions of “organic” structure to
their impoundments because of perceived increase in treatment costs. Traditional
brush piles break down rapidly when exposed to air and in reservoirs with
highly fluctuating water levels this can negatively affect longevity. Many western
impoundments have a shortage of brush or similar natural material. Hauling of
brush to the lake is typically the most costly in terms of dollars and man
power for any structure replacement project. Use of artificial structure keeps
these costs to a minimum. Artificial structures should have an indefinite
lifespan and longevity may also make them more attractive for large-scale fish
attractor and structure replacement projects in public reservoirs. We
encourage you to share the link (www.fishiding.com) with your
colleagues and contact David to discuss any possible role that their products
may have in your future habitat efforts.

]]>Friends of Reservoirs would like to welcome Fishiding.com of Wonder
Lake, Illinois as a corporate sponsor. Fishiding uses reclaimed
construction material to make artificial fish habitat. Not only are these
products great for attracting fish but by using reclaimed material, Fishiding
is keeping these materials from filling up local landfills. David Ewald, owner
of Fishiding.com, has been active in the aquatic habitat restoration arena for
many years and has been an excellent source of information on habitat projects
and issues across the country. I use David’s postings and blogs to help keep me
informed on aquatic habitat restoration projects, particularly those relevant
to reservoirs.

Commercially available artificial structures have utility over
more traditional “brush piles’ in many situations. Many municipal water supply
agencies are reluctant to approve additions of “organic” structure to
their impoundments because of perceived increase in treatment costs. Traditional
brush piles break down rapidly when exposed to air and in reservoirs with
highly fluctuating water levels this can negatively affect longevity. Many western
impoundments have a shortage of brush or similar natural material. Hauling of
brush to the lake is typically the most costly in terms of dollars and man
power for any structure replacement project. Use of artificial structure keeps
these costs to a minimum. Artificial structures should have an indefinite
lifespan and longevity may also make them more attractive for large-scale fish
attractor and structure replacement projects in public reservoirs. We
encourage you to share the link (www.fishiding.com) with your
colleagues and contact David to discuss any possible role that their products
may have in your future habitat efforts.

Imagine
a town consisting entirely of seniors. The town has no children, no teenagers,
and no young adults. All the schools, playgrounds, and sports fields have
closed. The town is eerily empty and still. And every year, as seniors pass on,
the town’s population grows smaller and smaller. With no young people to
replace the departed, the town will simply disappear from the map. A grim
future indeed.

Until
last year, this same sad demise seemed destined for Lake Ellwood in Florence
County, WI. In its waters, bluegill and largemouth bass had grown old.
For the better part of a decade, no young fish were surviving to replace them.
But now it seems that a corner has been turned and the news is good.
Today, Ellwood is a lake on the brink of recovery. The story of the
lake’s resurrection is a tale that involves invasive plants, a dedicated
fisheries biologist, and a host of scientists working against the clock to save
a small but beloved piece of Florence County.

THE CRASH

A
healthy lake gets a steady stream of newborn fish every year, and the newborns
that survive to maturity constantly enlarge the adult population. Fish
biologists call this process recruitment. Of all native fish, largemouth
bass and bluegill are both extremely prolific and they have shown outstanding
talent for recruitment. Unlike walleyes, which require very specific conditions
to reproduce, largemouth bass and bluegills thrive even when conditions are far
less than ideal. Typically, when two years pass without largemouth bass
and bluegill recruitment, fish managers become concerned, and Lake Ellwood has
now seen seven consecutive years with failed recruitment. Dr.
Andrew Rypel is the state’s lead panfish researcher for the Wisconsin
Department of Natural Resources. “It’s an eyebrow-raiser to be sure.
What’s happened on Lake Ellwood has gotten our attention. It’s very weird.”

Greg
Matzke is the DNR’s senior fish biologist for Florence and Forest Counties.
When I visited him in his office at the Florence Resources Center a year ago,
he was eager to discuss Lake Ellwood. “The fisheries biologist position
for Florence was vacant for three years prior to my arrival,” he told me. “By the time I got here in year 2010, many of our lakes
hadn’t been surveyed in a while. When we got around to looking at Lake
Ellwood in 2012, the fish population hadn’t been surveyed for a decade. What we found was a lake with few young fish. By the end of
our spring survey it was clear to me that something was wrong with some of the
major fish populations in Lake Ellwood.” What Matzke documented in 2012
was an almost total collapse of the fish community. In Wisconsin, a failure of
this magnitude in largemouth bass and bluegill recruitment is utterly
unprecedented.

Matzke
typed excitedly on his keyboard as a graph flashed onto the screen. Compiled
from the data he had collected, the graph showed a sudden drop in northern pike
recruitment after 2004, followed by bluegill and largemouth bass recruitment
failures after 2006. Northern pike and largemouth bass recruitment had not
occurred at all since 2004 and 2008 respectively, while bluegill recruitment
fell off and became insignificant after 2006. “We surveyed that lake
extensively, with 44 fyke net lifts and 7 complete electrofishing surveys
totaling 20.22 miles (on a lake with 2.8 miles of shoreline) and couldn’t find
a single fish younger than five, six and eight years of age, for largemouth,
black crappie and northern pike. Not one.” said Matzke. “Nobody has ever seen
anything like it.” In total Matzke spent 19 days surveying the fishery in one
small lake, which is a great deal of time and effort, and I wondered how many
lakes earn such scrutiny. “Not many,” said Matzke. I asked the big question:
“What happened to the fish?” He paused and exhaled. In a reflective mood, he
lowered his voice: “At first I had no idea, but after gathering and analyzing
all the data it’s quite clear…. I believe it has to do with the milfoil
treatments out there.”

THE MILFOIL CONNECTION

In
the bars of Spread Eagle, fishing is a hot topic among the locals. It fills the
air in the summer months, when local businesses are booming and lakefront
owners are spending more time on the water. Between rounds, someone
mentions the fish crash in Lake Ellwood, and explanations flow like beer from a
freshly-tapped keg. On a steamy night last July at the Chuck Wagon Restaurant,
the fate of the lake engaged almost every person in the room. Barroom
biologists blamed culprits ranging from low water levels to fish cribs and even
invasive Eurasian watermilfoil (EWM) sucking the oxygen out of the lake.

Back
in their offices, Matzke and his colleagues considered these possibilities and
decided none of them were credible because these same conditions exist on
hundreds of lakes throughout Northern Wisconsin, and none of the lakes
has shown collapses in fish as was documented in Lake
Ellwood. In their opinion, the crash stemmed from chemical herbicides applied
to control the invasive plant Eurasian watermilfoil.

Eurasian
watermilfoil (EWM) was discovered in Lake Ellwood in 2002. Treatments started
during the next spring. The Lake Ellwood Association contracted with a lake
management firm to monitor and treat the lake every spring thereafter with very
good success. As chemical treatments continued, invasive plants began to
subside. Encouraged by their success, the lake association continued
treatments in the hope of eradicating small but persistent areas that would
materialize. An unintended consequence was that native plants were also
being killed by the herbicide.

Once
considered the most crucial problem facing the Lake Ellwood Association,
milfoil has now taken a back-seat to the lake’s most urgent issue: The
fish crash. It was a shift in priorities that took time to embrace.
Matzke recalls that "when it came to Lake Ellwood, too many people were
focusing on the wrong thing. In the beginning, when I told them about the
fish crash, they listened, but still seemed more concerned about the
milfoil. I explained that milfoil was not the biggest problem. A
milfoil-free lake is worthless as a fishery if it can’t sustain healthy fish
populations.” Many people were still talking about invasive species ruining
the lake when it was losing its fish at an alarming rate. “We needed to
do something to encourage fish recruitment before it was too late.”
Despite being alerted to the collapse of the lake’s fishery and a hypothesis
that linked the crash to the milfoil treatments, in the spring of 2013, the
Lake Ellwood Association applied for their annual permit to continue
chemical treatments. The news of the
disappearance of what was once a balanced, self-sustaining, and
vibrant fish community had seemingly fallen on deaf ears. Matzke, along
with WDNR water regs staff, denied the permit application. He defended
what was an unpopular decision at the time by saying, “We need to take a
time-out and find out what’s going on in this lake. It’s not a stretch to
suggest that the milfoil treatments may be doing more harm than good.” At
first, many were unconvinced that any connection existed, but since then, those
who have studied the data compiled by Matzke admit that the evidence is hard to
ignore.

So how
could treatments aimed at invasive plants be hurting Lake Ellwood’s
fish? The exact pathways behind the crash are still being investigated,
but two plausible reasons might explain why multiple fish species have failed
to recruit. One is that the chemicals disturb the aquatic insect community
that young fish need for survival, and the fish literally starve to death in their first few months of life.
Another theory that holds more water is that the chemical herbicides have
depleted too much of the lake's native plant community that young fish need for
refuge. Without dense plant beds to hide in, young fish may be preyed
upon by larger fish, and by the fall, entire year classes of fish are gone with
no survivors to contribute to the lake’s fish community. It could also be
a combination of both of these scenarios. While it’s unknown exactly how
the fish crash happened, it’s clear that the chemicals played a key role.
Native vegetation is critical to fish. There are many examples
illustrating this important connection. On other Wisconsin Lakes, the
loss of native vegetation has proven to be the cause behind similar crashes of
largemouth bass and bluegill populations. In those lakes, rusty crayfish
or common carp were responsible for removing too much native vegetation,
causing largemouth bass and bluegill populations to collapse. On Lake
Ellwood, the same thing has happened. But on this lake, humans, using
herbicides, are behind the loss of native plants fish need.

Dr. Andrew Rypel, Wisconsin’s leading panfish researcher, says
that the complex relationship bluegills have with plants are just beginning to
be understood by fish scientists. “We’re trying to understand how this
occurred and we’re looking at other water systems with aquatic plant management
programs around the state to see if this is an anomaly.” He added, “With
bluegills, we know habitat is important. In fact, for the first time,
we’re really starting to study how plants affect fish quality”.

Is there a way to
save the fish, preserve native plants and still limit invasive milfoil?
“Yes,” says Greg Matzke, “But not with continual use of chemical herbicides.”
Denied permits to use any further chemical
herbicides, the Lake Ellwood Lake Association cleverly looked to alternative
methods of milfoil removal. Last summer, they contracted with an Iron
River company, Many Waters LLC, to use Diver Assisted Suction Harvesting (DASH)
as an alternative to herbicides. The DASH system features a giant vacuum
cleaner atop a pontoon. At the bottom of the lake, scuba divers use their hands
to pull out invasive milfoil (and avoid native plants) and then feed it into a
tube that takes it to the surface for collection and removal. Unlike chemical
treatments, DASH acts selectively by focusing only on milfoil and
leaving other plants generally undisturbed. Matzke gave his warm approval to DASH: “We
need to preserve and expand native plants in Lake Ellwood for fish to have a
chance at survival. The DASH system removes milfoil without harming the native
vegetation essential to fish.” Early results appear encouraging: In the
summer of 2013, DASH took more than two thousand pounds of milfoil out of Lake
Ellwood.

HOW BAD ARE INVASIVE PLANTS?

Dr. Jennifer Hauxwell is chief of
fisheries and aquatic sciences research at the Wisconsin Department of Natural
Resources. Headquartered in Madison, her
team of scientists have been studying Eurasian watermilfoil for ten years. What they’ve discovered so far is that EWM is
tough to pin down. It doesn’t seem to
behave in any two lakes quite the same way, and there’s no way to predict if it
will peacefully co-exist with native plants as it does in most lakes or
reach overabundance as it does in others.
Hauxwell says, “In some lakes EWM never ‘takes off’ or expands to levels requiring any
management. In some lakes EWM is a major component of the ecosystem and
may provide structure/habitat complexity if native species diversity is low or
absent. In some eutrophic to hyper-eutrophic lakes EWM may be the only
species keeping the lake from turning to algae dominated.” Hauxwell says
her team
has found other cases where it’s proven beneficial. “Lake Wingra, once suffered from murky water
due to algal blooms and lots of suspended sediment”, says Hauxwell. “When carp that root up sediment were removed
from the lake, the water cleared, and light was available to support plant
growth. EWM quickly expanded in the lake and helped further clear the water and
keep algae and suspended sediment low. It’s now a recreational nuisance, but
it’s definitely playing an important ecological role in the lake
community.” Currently, EWM occurs in 4%
of Wisconsin’s lakes mostly in small colonies that are not problematic. “Our researchers quantified the amount of EWM
in approximately 100 EWM lakes to get a sense for how widespread it may be in
any given lake and across different lakes.” Says Hauxwell. “We found that there was a wide range in
abundance. In the majority of the lakes
we studied, it was sparse and occurred in less than ten percent of the
inhabitable zone.” When does it reach nuisance level, I wondered? “’Nuisance’
is very difficult to define, and it’s in the eye of the beholder”, says
Hauxwell. Her team is excited about a
plethora of research studies currently underway that will shed even more new
light on this enigmatic species.

Mike Vogelsang is the DNR’s fisheries supervisor for the
Woodruff area and oversees all fish management in six counties in Northern
Wisconsin, including Florence. He’s more concerned with the
chemicals used to control EWM than with the invasive plant itself. “There’s some real questions by our
biologists, since they’re the ones required to review, and ultimately approve
chemical application permits. What are the effects of chemical use going
to be twenty years down the road? We’re already finding that in some
cases they don’t break down as quickly as believed-they have toxicity long
after the manufacturers say they do.”

Vogelsang also says that because it’s expensive to control
and impossible to eradicate, learning to live with milfoil is inevitable.
“Where are we really going with these treatments? When do they become
excessive? What effects are they having on fish communities? These
are some of the questions we’re talking about now.” Vogelsang isn’t
satisfied that EWM is the destructive threat that’s worthy of all the resources
directed to control it. “When EWM first came on the scene, there was a
lot of fear associated with the plant, because it was a new potential threat,
and the Department wasn’t sure if it would negatively impact our waters. To help stop its spread, there was a lot of
gloom and doom talk with lake associations and the general public. We
heard all these things about exotics and how bad they are, but it hasn’t been
the end of the world. The sky didn’t fall. In many lakes, fishing
got better with the invasives. I’m not saying exotics are a good thing –
and we should do everything we can to prevent their spread – but EWM hasn’t
impacted our fisheries.”

Is an unwarranted level of fear driving lake associations to
respond too aggressively to milfoil? If so, it’s a fear that today feels
like an over-reaction to a plant that now doesn’t seem to be capable of ruining
lakes after all. Ironically, while EWM hasn’t harmed fisheries, the
unintended consequences of using chemical herbicides to control it has, as it
did on Lake Ellwood. Is what happened on Lake Ellwood an indictment of
chemical herbicides? “When over-used, I think so.” Says Vogelsang.
“It’s simple: No weeds equals no fish. If I had my own private lake and
it got milfoil, would I attempt to control it with chemicals? No. I
would leave it alone and know that eventually the plant would become
naturalized with the native plant community – like it has on many lakes where
no chemical treatments have been used.”

Steve Gilbert, another fish Biologist, echoes Vogelsang’s
observations. He reports that for the past 22 years that he’s worked in
Vilas County, the negative impacts of EWM on fish in Vilas County lakes has
been zero.

While
the DNR has consistently denounced EWM, new plant science and testimony from
fisheries managers now seem to undercut the agency’s long-standing rhetoric.
The days of demonizing Eurasian watermilfoil may be nearing an end.
Stated simply, EWM is not be as bad as we formerly thought. It’s a tough bell
to un-ring and DNR insiders are struggling to navigate the complicated path to
this more moderate public position, without undermining their credibility.

THE FISH RETURN

May
2014. A year has passed since my last meeting with Greg Matzke and I’m
back in his office to discover what has happened with Lake Ellwood since we
last talked. The spring of 2013 was the first year in a decade when chemicals
weren’t applied and the results were instant and dramatic. Grinning now,
Matzke tells me that his fish surveys from the fall of 2013 show an astounding
thirteen-thousand percent increase in young-of-the-year bluegill since
2012 (the last year of chemical treatment). The 2013 survey also found
young-of-the-year largemouth bass, which makes the 2013 year class the first
successful recruitment of this species in Lake Ellwood since 2008. In fact,
largemouth bass recruitment in 2013 was measured at a rate more than double the
recruitment level in 2002 (before chemical treatments began). This immediate
rebound adds solid weight to the theory that herbicides did indeed cause the
famous collapse in the fish community. A thirteen-thousand percent increase in
bluegills sounds incredible and I asked Matzke to put the numbers into context.
“We captured just over 97 age-0 bluegill per mile during our electrofishing survey;
this is up from less than one age-0 bluegill per mile in 2012. The 2012 year
class still looked poor with only 0.67 age-1 bluegill per mile during the 2013
survey. For the first time in a long time, conditions are acceptable for
bluegill and largemouth bass to reproduce successfully. And they’re
responding.” Putting the question as directly as possible, I asked if it
was simplistic to think that “no plants equals no fish” and that “with plants,
we have fish.” Matzke said, “That’s an interesting point. I mapped out the
aquatic vegetation in Lake Ellwood during August 2013 with acoustic equipment
to get a picture of the plants.” Showing me a multicolored map of the lake, he
pointed to red-shaded areas that contained the most concentrated areas of plants.
“We didn’t find a dense plant community by any means, but in certain near shore
areas, there was dense plant cover where there hadn’t been any before.” Matzke
draws an optimistic conclusion: “This suggests that for bluegill and largemouth
bass recruitment, overall plant abundance may not be as important as these
narrow strips of dense aquatic vegetation that are now found in Lake Ellwood
after the herbicide treatments have stopped. These areas serve as great
nurseries for young fish, offering preferred prey items and cover from
predatory fish, giving bluegill and largemouth bass a fighting chance to
recruit.”

When
news of the Lake Ellwood fish crash started to spread, says Matzke, “I started
getting calls. Other fish biologists from around Wisconsin, Michigan, and
Minnesota had heard about Lake Ellwood and they were looking for more
information.” They were consulting Matzke to learn about signs of incipient
problems in their own lakes. Matzke also took “calls from regular folks around
the State” who lived on lakes with invasive milfoil and who worried that
chemical treatments were hurting fish populations in their waters. Was the same
thing happening to other lakes? Matzke shrugged: “It’s really hard to say. To
know for sure, you need to steer your sampling efforts to target
young-of-the-year panfish. That’s not something fish managers typically do in
their ordinary work. Unless you’re specifically looking for it, it’s the
kind of problem that could go undiscovered for a long time and may go unnoticed
until the adult population begins to be effected, as it did on Lake
Elwood”.

Now
retired, fisheries biologist, Bob Young oversaw Florence County Lakes from
2000-2007. He fondly remembers Lake Ellwood as once being a high quality
panfish lake. He’s been following the recent changes closely and feels
another important lesson can be learned. “The invasive species folks
should be working closer with fish managers so they can avoid situations like
this. I’ve always been uneasy with the notion that total chemical war needs to
be made on any and all invasive plant populations. Maybe it wasn’t the best
thing for Lake Ellwood.”

A PROMISING FUTURE

Events
in Lake Ellwood have also drawn the attention of the Dr. Greg Sass. Sass
is another member of the DNR’s elite Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences Research
Section. As the agency’s equivalent of a CSI unit, these fish detectives answer
calls to solve the most perplexing mysteries in the fisheries of the State.
They’re the team whose groundbreaking scientific work in many areas over the
years have directly led to major improvements in Wisconsin’s fishing.Sass
visited Lake Ellwood in 2013 to investigate and define the forces behind the
crash in the fish community. His ongoing
study will gather more data not just from Lake Ellwood, but from two other
lakes (Cosgrove, and Siedel) in Florence County. Sass is hopeful that eventually his team will
be able to mechanistically explain the bluegill and largemouth bass recruitment
failures observed in Lake Ellwood.

In
Florence, meanwhile, Matzke says his office will continue fish surveys to
monitor the recovery now underway. He remains optimistic about the future
(which doesn't include any further chemical treatments for Eurasian watermilfoil.)
“It’s my hope that we can come to a clear understanding of the things that
drive natural reproduction of the fish in Lake Ellwood.” Turning to the crash
in the fish community, Matzke expressed his hope that “we can plausibly explain
how the fish community crashed. So far the signs are quite clear;it
was the treatments to eradicate milfoil—not the milfoil itself—that have
seemingly indirectly caused the collapse in fish recruitment.” Lake
Ellwood still has a few acres of invasive milfoil and likely always will.
But native plants as well as young bluegills and largemouth bass are beginning
to return. For fishery managers, that makes for a tradeoff with the sweet
taste of victory.

Let’s
go back to that town you imagined, the place where every citizen was a senior.
The place is turning robust, as a new cohort of kids has taken to the
playgrounds, sports field, and schools. “That’s not the same as a town with a
lot of young adults,” cautions Matzke, “but it makes for a promising start.” At
this time, the Wisconsin DNR’s careful work seems to justify the same spirit of
cautious optimism about the future of Lake Ellwood.

(For
further information, questions or comments about this article, please email
Greg Matzke at Gregory.Matzke@Wisconsin.gov)

]]>

Imagine
a town consisting entirely of seniors. The town has no children, no teenagers,
and no young adults. All the schools, playgrounds, and sports fields have
closed. The town is eerily empty and still. And every year, as seniors pass on,
the town’s population grows smaller and smaller. With no young people to
replace the departed, the town will simply disappear from the map. A grim
future indeed.

Until
last year, this same sad demise seemed destined for Lake Ellwood in Florence
County, WI. In its waters, bluegill and largemouth bass had grown old.
For the better part of a decade, no young fish were surviving to replace them.
But now it seems that a corner has been turned and the news is good.
Today, Ellwood is a lake on the brink of recovery. The story of the
lake’s resurrection is a tale that involves invasive plants, a dedicated
fisheries biologist, and a host of scientists working against the clock to save
a small but beloved piece of Florence County.

THE CRASH

A
healthy lake gets a steady stream of newborn fish every year, and the newborns
that survive to maturity constantly enlarge the adult population. Fish
biologists call this process recruitment. Of all native fish, largemouth
bass and bluegill are both extremely prolific and they have shown outstanding
talent for recruitment. Unlike walleyes, which require very specific conditions
to reproduce, largemouth bass and bluegills thrive even when conditions are far
less than ideal. Typically, when two years pass without largemouth bass
and bluegill recruitment, fish managers become concerned, and Lake Ellwood has
now seen seven consecutive years with failed recruitment. Dr.
Andrew Rypel is the state’s lead panfish researcher for the Wisconsin
Department of Natural Resources. “It’s an eyebrow-raiser to be sure.
What’s happened on Lake Ellwood has gotten our attention. It’s very weird.”

Greg
Matzke is the DNR’s senior fish biologist for Florence and Forest Counties.
When I visited him in his office at the Florence Resources Center a year ago,
he was eager to discuss Lake Ellwood. “The fisheries biologist position
for Florence was vacant for three years prior to my arrival,” he told me. “By the time I got here in year 2010, many of our lakes
hadn’t been surveyed in a while. When we got around to looking at Lake
Ellwood in 2012, the fish population hadn’t been surveyed for a decade. What we found was a lake with few young fish. By the end of
our spring survey it was clear to me that something was wrong with some of the
major fish populations in Lake Ellwood.” What Matzke documented in 2012
was an almost total collapse of the fish community. In Wisconsin, a failure of
this magnitude in largemouth bass and bluegill recruitment is utterly
unprecedented.

Matzke
typed excitedly on his keyboard as a graph flashed onto the screen. Compiled
from the data he had collected, the graph showed a sudden drop in northern pike
recruitment after 2004, followed by bluegill and largemouth bass recruitment
failures after 2006. Northern pike and largemouth bass recruitment had not
occurred at all since 2004 and 2008 respectively, while bluegill recruitment
fell off and became insignificant after 2006. “We surveyed that lake
extensively, with 44 fyke net lifts and 7 complete electrofishing surveys
totaling 20.22 miles (on a lake with 2.8 miles of shoreline) and couldn’t find
a single fish younger than five, six and eight years of age, for largemouth,
black crappie and northern pike. Not one.” said Matzke. “Nobody has ever seen
anything like it.” In total Matzke spent 19 days surveying the fishery in one
small lake, which is a great deal of time and effort, and I wondered how many
lakes earn such scrutiny. “Not many,” said Matzke. I asked the big question:
“What happened to the fish?” He paused and exhaled. In a reflective mood, he
lowered his voice: “At first I had no idea, but after gathering and analyzing
all the data it’s quite clear…. I believe it has to do with the milfoil
treatments out there.”

THE MILFOIL CONNECTION

In
the bars of Spread Eagle, fishing is a hot topic among the locals. It fills the
air in the summer months, when local businesses are booming and lakefront
owners are spending more time on the water. Between rounds, someone
mentions the fish crash in Lake Ellwood, and explanations flow like beer from a
freshly-tapped keg. On a steamy night last July at the Chuck Wagon Restaurant,
the fate of the lake engaged almost every person in the room. Barroom
biologists blamed culprits ranging from low water levels to fish cribs and even
invasive Eurasian watermilfoil (EWM) sucking the oxygen out of the lake.

Back
in their offices, Matzke and his colleagues considered these possibilities and
decided none of them were credible because these same conditions exist on
hundreds of lakes throughout Northern Wisconsin, and none of the lakes
has shown collapses in fish as was documented in Lake
Ellwood. In their opinion, the crash stemmed from chemical herbicides applied
to control the invasive plant Eurasian watermilfoil.

Eurasian
watermilfoil (EWM) was discovered in Lake Ellwood in 2002. Treatments started
during the next spring. The Lake Ellwood Association contracted with a lake
management firm to monitor and treat the lake every spring thereafter with very
good success. As chemical treatments continued, invasive plants began to
subside. Encouraged by their success, the lake association continued
treatments in the hope of eradicating small but persistent areas that would
materialize. An unintended consequence was that native plants were also
being killed by the herbicide.

Once
considered the most crucial problem facing the Lake Ellwood Association,
milfoil has now taken a back-seat to the lake’s most urgent issue: The
fish crash. It was a shift in priorities that took time to embrace.
Matzke recalls that "when it came to Lake Ellwood, too many people were
focusing on the wrong thing. In the beginning, when I told them about the
fish crash, they listened, but still seemed more concerned about the
milfoil. I explained that milfoil was not the biggest problem. A
milfoil-free lake is worthless as a fishery if it can’t sustain healthy fish
populations.” Many people were still talking about invasive species ruining
the lake when it was losing its fish at an alarming rate. “We needed to
do something to encourage fish recruitment before it was too late.”
Despite being alerted to the collapse of the lake’s fishery and a hypothesis
that linked the crash to the milfoil treatments, in the spring of 2013, the
Lake Ellwood Association applied for their annual permit to continue
chemical treatments. The news of the
disappearance of what was once a balanced, self-sustaining, and
vibrant fish community had seemingly fallen on deaf ears. Matzke, along
with WDNR water regs staff, denied the permit application. He defended
what was an unpopular decision at the time by saying, “We need to take a
time-out and find out what’s going on in this lake. It’s not a stretch to
suggest that the milfoil treatments may be doing more harm than good.” At
first, many were unconvinced that any connection existed, but since then, those
who have studied the data compiled by Matzke admit that the evidence is hard to
ignore.

So how
could treatments aimed at invasive plants be hurting Lake Ellwood’s
fish? The exact pathways behind the crash are still being investigated,
but two plausible reasons might explain why multiple fish species have failed
to recruit. One is that the chemicals disturb the aquatic insect community
that young fish need for survival, and the fish literally starve to death in their first few months of life.
Another theory that holds more water is that the chemical herbicides have
depleted too much of the lake's native plant community that young fish need for
refuge. Without dense plant beds to hide in, young fish may be preyed
upon by larger fish, and by the fall, entire year classes of fish are gone with
no survivors to contribute to the lake’s fish community. It could also be
a combination of both of these scenarios. While it’s unknown exactly how
the fish crash happened, it’s clear that the chemicals played a key role.
Native vegetation is critical to fish. There are many examples
illustrating this important connection. On other Wisconsin Lakes, the
loss of native vegetation has proven to be the cause behind similar crashes of
largemouth bass and bluegill populations. In those lakes, rusty crayfish
or common carp were responsible for removing too much native vegetation,
causing largemouth bass and bluegill populations to collapse. On Lake
Ellwood, the same thing has happened. But on this lake, humans, using
herbicides, are behind the loss of native plants fish need.

Dr. Andrew Rypel, Wisconsin’s leading panfish researcher, says
that the complex relationship bluegills have with plants are just beginning to
be understood by fish scientists. “We’re trying to understand how this
occurred and we’re looking at other water systems with aquatic plant management
programs around the state to see if this is an anomaly.” He added, “With
bluegills, we know habitat is important. In fact, for the first time,
we’re really starting to study how plants affect fish quality”.

Is there a way to
save the fish, preserve native plants and still limit invasive milfoil?
“Yes,” says Greg Matzke, “But not with continual use of chemical herbicides.”
Denied permits to use any further chemical
herbicides, the Lake Ellwood Lake Association cleverly looked to alternative
methods of milfoil removal. Last summer, they contracted with an Iron
River company, Many Waters LLC, to use Diver Assisted Suction Harvesting (DASH)
as an alternative to herbicides. The DASH system features a giant vacuum
cleaner atop a pontoon. At the bottom of the lake, scuba divers use their hands
to pull out invasive milfoil (and avoid native plants) and then feed it into a
tube that takes it to the surface for collection and removal. Unlike chemical
treatments, DASH acts selectively by focusing only on milfoil and
leaving other plants generally undisturbed. Matzke gave his warm approval to DASH: “We
need to preserve and expand native plants in Lake Ellwood for fish to have a
chance at survival. The DASH system removes milfoil without harming the native
vegetation essential to fish.” Early results appear encouraging: In the
summer of 2013, DASH took more than two thousand pounds of milfoil out of Lake
Ellwood.

HOW BAD ARE INVASIVE PLANTS?

Dr. Jennifer Hauxwell is chief of
fisheries and aquatic sciences research at the Wisconsin Department of Natural
Resources. Headquartered in Madison, her
team of scientists have been studying Eurasian watermilfoil for ten years. What they’ve discovered so far is that EWM is
tough to pin down. It doesn’t seem to
behave in any two lakes quite the same way, and there’s no way to predict if it
will peacefully co-exist with native plants as it does in most lakes or
reach overabundance as it does in others.
Hauxwell says, “In some lakes EWM never ‘takes off’ or expands to levels requiring any
management. In some lakes EWM is a major component of the ecosystem and
may provide structure/habitat complexity if native species diversity is low or
absent. In some eutrophic to hyper-eutrophic lakes EWM may be the only
species keeping the lake from turning to algae dominated.” Hauxwell says
her team
has found other cases where it’s proven beneficial. “Lake Wingra, once suffered from murky water
due to algal blooms and lots of suspended sediment”, says Hauxwell. “When carp that root up sediment were removed
from the lake, the water cleared, and light was available to support plant
growth. EWM quickly expanded in the lake and helped further clear the water and
keep algae and suspended sediment low. It’s now a recreational nuisance, but
it’s definitely playing an important ecological role in the lake
community.” Currently, EWM occurs in 4%
of Wisconsin’s lakes mostly in small colonies that are not problematic. “Our researchers quantified the amount of EWM
in approximately 100 EWM lakes to get a sense for how widespread it may be in
any given lake and across different lakes.” Says Hauxwell. “We found that there was a wide range in
abundance. In the majority of the lakes
we studied, it was sparse and occurred in less than ten percent of the
inhabitable zone.” When does it reach nuisance level, I wondered? “’Nuisance’
is very difficult to define, and it’s in the eye of the beholder”, says
Hauxwell. Her team is excited about a
plethora of research studies currently underway that will shed even more new
light on this enigmatic species.

Mike Vogelsang is the DNR’s fisheries supervisor for the
Woodruff area and oversees all fish management in six counties in Northern
Wisconsin, including Florence. He’s more concerned with the
chemicals used to control EWM than with the invasive plant itself. “There’s some real questions by our
biologists, since they’re the ones required to review, and ultimately approve
chemical application permits. What are the effects of chemical use going
to be twenty years down the road? We’re already finding that in some
cases they don’t break down as quickly as believed-they have toxicity long
after the manufacturers say they do.”

Vogelsang also says that because it’s expensive to control
and impossible to eradicate, learning to live with milfoil is inevitable.
“Where are we really going with these treatments? When do they become
excessive? What effects are they having on fish communities? These
are some of the questions we’re talking about now.” Vogelsang isn’t
satisfied that EWM is the destructive threat that’s worthy of all the resources
directed to control it. “When EWM first came on the scene, there was a
lot of fear associated with the plant, because it was a new potential threat,
and the Department wasn’t sure if it would negatively impact our waters. To help stop its spread, there was a lot of
gloom and doom talk with lake associations and the general public. We
heard all these things about exotics and how bad they are, but it hasn’t been
the end of the world. The sky didn’t fall. In many lakes, fishing
got better with the invasives. I’m not saying exotics are a good thing –
and we should do everything we can to prevent their spread – but EWM hasn’t
impacted our fisheries.”

Is an unwarranted level of fear driving lake associations to
respond too aggressively to milfoil? If so, it’s a fear that today feels
like an over-reaction to a plant that now doesn’t seem to be capable of ruining
lakes after all. Ironically, while EWM hasn’t harmed fisheries, the
unintended consequences of using chemical herbicides to control it has, as it
did on Lake Ellwood. Is what happened on Lake Ellwood an indictment of
chemical herbicides? “When over-used, I think so.” Says Vogelsang.
“It’s simple: No weeds equals no fish. If I had my own private lake and
it got milfoil, would I attempt to control it with chemicals? No. I
would leave it alone and know that eventually the plant would become
naturalized with the native plant community – like it has on many lakes where
no chemical treatments have been used.”

Steve Gilbert, another fish Biologist, echoes Vogelsang’s
observations. He reports that for the past 22 years that he’s worked in
Vilas County, the negative impacts of EWM on fish in Vilas County lakes has
been zero.

While
the DNR has consistently denounced EWM, new plant science and testimony from
fisheries managers now seem to undercut the agency’s long-standing rhetoric.
The days of demonizing Eurasian watermilfoil may be nearing an end.
Stated simply, EWM is not be as bad as we formerly thought. It’s a tough bell
to un-ring and DNR insiders are struggling to navigate the complicated path to
this more moderate public position, without undermining their credibility.

THE FISH RETURN

May
2014. A year has passed since my last meeting with Greg Matzke and I’m
back in his office to discover what has happened with Lake Ellwood since we
last talked. The spring of 2013 was the first year in a decade when chemicals
weren’t applied and the results were instant and dramatic. Grinning now,
Matzke tells me that his fish surveys from the fall of 2013 show an astounding
thirteen-thousand percent increase in young-of-the-year bluegill since
2012 (the last year of chemical treatment). The 2013 survey also found
young-of-the-year largemouth bass, which makes the 2013 year class the first
successful recruitment of this species in Lake Ellwood since 2008. In fact,
largemouth bass recruitment in 2013 was measured at a rate more than double the
recruitment level in 2002 (before chemical treatments began). This immediate
rebound adds solid weight to the theory that herbicides did indeed cause the
famous collapse in the fish community. A thirteen-thousand percent increase in
bluegills sounds incredible and I asked Matzke to put the numbers into context.
“We captured just over 97 age-0 bluegill per mile during our electrofishing survey;
this is up from less than one age-0 bluegill per mile in 2012. The 2012 year
class still looked poor with only 0.67 age-1 bluegill per mile during the 2013
survey. For the first time in a long time, conditions are acceptable for
bluegill and largemouth bass to reproduce successfully. And they’re
responding.” Putting the question as directly as possible, I asked if it
was simplistic to think that “no plants equals no fish” and that “with plants,
we have fish.” Matzke said, “That’s an interesting point. I mapped out the
aquatic vegetation in Lake Ellwood during August 2013 with acoustic equipment
to get a picture of the plants.” Showing me a multicolored map of the lake, he
pointed to red-shaded areas that contained the most concentrated areas of plants.
“We didn’t find a dense plant community by any means, but in certain near shore
areas, there was dense plant cover where there hadn’t been any before.” Matzke
draws an optimistic conclusion: “This suggests that for bluegill and largemouth
bass recruitment, overall plant abundance may not be as important as these
narrow strips of dense aquatic vegetation that are now found in Lake Ellwood
after the herbicide treatments have stopped. These areas serve as great
nurseries for young fish, offering preferred prey items and cover from
predatory fish, giving bluegill and largemouth bass a fighting chance to
recruit.”

When
news of the Lake Ellwood fish crash started to spread, says Matzke, “I started
getting calls. Other fish biologists from around Wisconsin, Michigan, and
Minnesota had heard about Lake Ellwood and they were looking for more
information.” They were consulting Matzke to learn about signs of incipient
problems in their own lakes. Matzke also took “calls from regular folks around
the State” who lived on lakes with invasive milfoil and who worried that
chemical treatments were hurting fish populations in their waters. Was the same
thing happening to other lakes? Matzke shrugged: “It’s really hard to say. To
know for sure, you need to steer your sampling efforts to target
young-of-the-year panfish. That’s not something fish managers typically do in
their ordinary work. Unless you’re specifically looking for it, it’s the
kind of problem that could go undiscovered for a long time and may go unnoticed
until the adult population begins to be effected, as it did on Lake
Elwood”.

Now
retired, fisheries biologist, Bob Young oversaw Florence County Lakes from
2000-2007. He fondly remembers Lake Ellwood as once being a high quality
panfish lake. He’s been following the recent changes closely and feels
another important lesson can be learned. “The invasive species folks
should be working closer with fish managers so they can avoid situations like
this. I’ve always been uneasy with the notion that total chemical war needs to
be made on any and all invasive plant populations. Maybe it wasn’t the best
thing for Lake Ellwood.”

A PROMISING FUTURE

Events
in Lake Ellwood have also drawn the attention of the Dr. Greg Sass. Sass
is another member of the DNR’s elite Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences Research
Section. As the agency’s equivalent of a CSI unit, these fish detectives answer
calls to solve the most perplexing mysteries in the fisheries of the State.
They’re the team whose groundbreaking scientific work in many areas over the
years have directly led to major improvements in Wisconsin’s fishing.Sass
visited Lake Ellwood in 2013 to investigate and define the forces behind the
crash in the fish community. His ongoing
study will gather more data not just from Lake Ellwood, but from two other
lakes (Cosgrove, and Siedel) in Florence County. Sass is hopeful that eventually his team will
be able to mechanistically explain the bluegill and largemouth bass recruitment
failures observed in Lake Ellwood.

In
Florence, meanwhile, Matzke says his office will continue fish surveys to
monitor the recovery now underway. He remains optimistic about the future
(which doesn't include any further chemical treatments for Eurasian watermilfoil.)
“It’s my hope that we can come to a clear understanding of the things that
drive natural reproduction of the fish in Lake Ellwood.” Turning to the crash
in the fish community, Matzke expressed his hope that “we can plausibly explain
how the fish community crashed. So far the signs are quite clear;it
was the treatments to eradicate milfoil—not the milfoil itself—that have
seemingly indirectly caused the collapse in fish recruitment.” Lake
Ellwood still has a few acres of invasive milfoil and likely always will.
But native plants as well as young bluegills and largemouth bass are beginning
to return. For fishery managers, that makes for a tradeoff with the sweet
taste of victory.

Let’s
go back to that town you imagined, the place where every citizen was a senior.
The place is turning robust, as a new cohort of kids has taken to the
playgrounds, sports field, and schools. “That’s not the same as a town with a
lot of young adults,” cautions Matzke, “but it makes for a promising start.” At
this time, the Wisconsin DNR’s careful work seems to justify the same spirit of
cautious optimism about the future of Lake Ellwood.

(For
further information, questions or comments about this article, please email
Greg Matzke at Gregory.Matzke@Wisconsin.gov)

In 2014, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) will provide $3,301,155 for cost-shared projects that address the priorities of FHPs organized under the Action Plan.

Last year, the Service adopted a new competitive performance-based method to allocate funding under the National Fish Habitat Action Plan. The new methodology was developed collaboratively by the Service's Fish and Aquatic Conservation Fisheries Management Team, in consultation with their Regional National Fish Habitat Partnership (NFHP) Coordinators. This methodology was approved at the end of 2013 and implementation of this methodology begins with the funding announced for this year. The funding level breakdown per FHP are listed below and were calculated using the new competitive-based funding method.

In 2014, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) will provide $3,301,155 for cost-shared projects that address the priorities of FHPs organized under the Action Plan.

Last year, the Service adopted a new competitive performance-based method to allocate funding under the National Fish Habitat Action Plan. The new methodology was developed collaboratively by the Service's Fish and Aquatic Conservation Fisheries Management Team, in consultation with their Regional National Fish Habitat Partnership (NFHP) Coordinators. This methodology was approved at the end of 2013 and implementation of this methodology begins with the funding announced for this year. The funding level breakdown per FHP are listed below and were calculated using the new competitive-based funding method.

Newly placed, this Fishiding High Rise model towers 12 feet off the lake floor and will soon become a haven for fish in lakes where natural cover is at a premium. (C)Eric Engbretson Photo

Artificial fish habitat structures are becoming more popular today. They're being used more and more, especially in large southern reservoirs devoid of important structure fish need. Fish managers have traditionally placed bundles of Christmas trees or cedar trees on the lake bottom to try to provide cover for fish. While effective, the lifespan of tree bundles or brush piles is limited, so replenishing them has always been an ongoing and expensive process. Today, artificial habitat structures are gaining popularity because they don't decay or deteriorate.

Newly placed, this Fishiding High Rise model towers 12 feet off the lake floor and will soon become a haven for fish in lakes where natural cover is at a premium. (C)Eric Engbretson Photo

Artificial fish habitat structures are becoming more popular today. They're being used more and more, especially in large southern reservoirs devoid of important structure fish need. Fish managers have traditionally placed bundles of Christmas trees or cedar trees on the lake bottom to try to provide cover for fish. While effective, the lifespan of tree bundles or brush piles is limited, so replenishing them has always been an ongoing and expensive process. Today, artificial habitat structures are gaining popularity because they don't decay or deteriorate.

]]>http://www.fishiding.com/recent-fish-habitat-news/new-habitat-reaches-higher-standing-taller-than-ever-thought-possible-with-vertical-uprisetm/
Wed, 30 Apr 2014 18:44:42 +0000http://www.fishiding.com/recent-fish-habitat-news/new-habitat-reaches-higher-standing-taller-than-ever-thought-possible-with-vertical-uprisetm/The much needed ability to reach higher in the water column with artificial fish habitat has been un-locked with the new HighRise Habitat with Vertical UpRiseTM from Fishiding.com. This balancing act between weight, height, leverage and size has finally become a reality in these new magnum tall habitat units.

Biologists and pond owners are learning the best management practices to replace and improve lost fish habitat. Not only is the sheer size and number of units needed in a waterbody to be considered, but what products are availble to best serve those specific site requirements and costs.

Products that are long lasting, provide ample shade with countless nooks, cracks and crevices, are key to providing cover for starting the food chain. Models with variation in height, width and rigidity of limbs are just a few of the specifics fisheries professionals are after. Shade, a deep water basement along with height, allow fish to utilize the entire water column as they hunt, hide and feed.

The new HighRise Habitat with Vertical UpRiseTM offers fisherman, pond and lake owners and fisheries professionals a new, taller and larger array of artificial habitat tools to improve habitat and fishing in their local waters.

The Vertical Dimension

"Height is infinitely more important than length. The higher the walls of the crib extend from the bottom, the more attractive the crib will prove to fish. You want a piece of genuine structure, not something that is just an inconspicuous component of the floor of the lake. In fact, cribs should measure no less than four feet high. Fish want something well above the lake floor, and they like to choose the depth they want to hold while remaining close to the structure." Eric Engbretson,underwater photographer "Why fish cribs work and why they fail" "The key element in one word is complexity."

"Long branches should extend from the crib on all sides and through all the slats. If possible, include some long branches stuck into the top of the crib to give it some extra dimension. The idea is to create as thick and complex a jungle as possible. The final result will resemble a thick mass of long branches extending from the dense pack inside the crib. The branches should reach from every depth of the crib in every direction and at every possible angle. If your finished crib looks even vaguely tidy, it needs more work." E.E.

Until now, it has been utterly impossible to place and KEEP artificial or natural habitat on steep slopes and breaklines, which can be key spots for fish to utilize. Gravity, waves and wind make top heavy objects simply fall over or slide down, offering far less cover for the fish.The built in Vertical UpRiseTM of these new tall as life models, allow them to stand up high and completely vertical in the water column, irregardless of bottom slope, current, wave action or bottom material makeup.

The mixture of fine and coarse materials, provide security and food for all sizes of fish and aquatic life. Even as the habitat begins to quickly grow periphyton, algae and added weight, these units will stand tall through it all with the built in buoyancy of the Vertical UpRiseTM.

All four models come ready to install with no tools or other needed supplies. With the incorporated twist together design, simply unfold each section and thread the large, easy to handle sections and toss in the lake. The three larger models all come with 25 square foot Baitfish pucks that snap into the one, two or three designated openings. These pucks create bursts of fine, dense cover along the snag free trunk.

Ranging in size from 8'-0" tall with over 110 square feet of surface area, up to 14'-6" and 255 square feet of food growing, shade producing cover. With the large size of some units, pre-bending on shore and holding the limbs up with a string, makes installation from a smaller boat easier. Simply remove the string when ready to install and the limbs bounce back to the pre-bent shape you created. Screw together the one or two upper sections and drop in deep water.

Fishiding's commitment to help the environment, doesn't stop with simply keeping a great deal of pvc from ending up in landfills. In 2013, 112 tons of vinyl siding was reclaimed into artificial fish habitat, keeping it from being buried in a hole somewhere in Illinois or Wisconsin. Carbon neutral shipping via UPS, recycled newspaper for packing, low/no energy use and 94% completely recycled or re-purposed materials to give back to the fish and the environment.

Patents have been issued and production has begun on this new generation of artificial habitat that is reaching to new heights in fishery and habitat management. Groups of these HighRise Habitat units with Vertical UpRiseTM, will create a forest of protection and habitat for every fish species. Pre-order your HighRise Habitat today, as the first of hundreds of new models are setting up to dry, getting ready to plunge into the deep and steep water domain they will flourish within.

All Fishiding Habitat products are produced with pride near northern Illinois. Local material suppliers, labor and staff, all work together to produce the only American hand made, artificial fish habitat product line in the world. Help the land, water and fish, while keeping jobs and business here in the U.S.A. Buy American Strong.

]]>The much needed ability to reach higher in the water column with artificial fish habitat has been un-locked with the new HighRise Habitat with Vertical UpRiseTM from Fishiding.com. This balancing act between weight, height, leverage and size has finally become a reality in these new magnum tall habitat units.

Biologists and pond owners are learning the best management practices to replace and improve lost fish habitat. Not only is the sheer size and number of units needed in a waterbody to be considered, but what products are availble to best serve those specific site requirements and costs.

Products that are long lasting, provide ample shade with countless nooks, cracks and crevices, are key to providing cover for starting the food chain. Models with variation in height, width and rigidity of limbs are just a few of the specifics fisheries professionals are after. Shade, a deep water basement along with height, allow fish to utilize the entire water column as they hunt, hide and feed.

The new HighRise Habitat with Vertical UpRiseTM offers fisherman, pond and lake owners and fisheries professionals a new, taller and larger array of artificial habitat tools to improve habitat and fishing in their local waters.

The Vertical Dimension

"Height is infinitely more important than length. The higher the walls of the crib extend from the bottom, the more attractive the crib will prove to fish. You want a piece of genuine structure, not something that is just an inconspicuous component of the floor of the lake. In fact, cribs should measure no less than four feet high. Fish want something well above the lake floor, and they like to choose the depth they want to hold while remaining close to the structure." Eric Engbretson,underwater photographer "Why fish cribs work and why they fail" "The key element in one word is complexity."

"Long branches should extend from the crib on all sides and through all the slats. If possible, include some long branches stuck into the top of the crib to give it some extra dimension. The idea is to create as thick and complex a jungle as possible. The final result will resemble a thick mass of long branches extending from the dense pack inside the crib. The branches should reach from every depth of the crib in every direction and at every possible angle. If your finished crib looks even vaguely tidy, it needs more work." E.E.

Until now, it has been utterly impossible to place and KEEP artificial or natural habitat on steep slopes and breaklines, which can be key spots for fish to utilize. Gravity, waves and wind make top heavy objects simply fall over or slide down, offering far less cover for the fish.The built in Vertical UpRiseTM of these new tall as life models, allow them to stand up high and completely vertical in the water column, irregardless of bottom slope, current, wave action or bottom material makeup.

The mixture of fine and coarse materials, provide security and food for all sizes of fish and aquatic life. Even as the habitat begins to quickly grow periphyton, algae and added weight, these units will stand tall through it all with the built in buoyancy of the Vertical UpRiseTM.

All four models come ready to install with no tools or other needed supplies. With the incorporated twist together design, simply unfold each section and thread the large, easy to handle sections and toss in the lake. The three larger models all come with 25 square foot Baitfish pucks that snap into the one, two or three designated openings. These pucks create bursts of fine, dense cover along the snag free trunk.

Ranging in size from 8'-0" tall with over 110 square feet of surface area, up to 14'-6" and 255 square feet of food growing, shade producing cover. With the large size of some units, pre-bending on shore and holding the limbs up with a string, makes installation from a smaller boat easier. Simply remove the string when ready to install and the limbs bounce back to the pre-bent shape you created. Screw together the one or two upper sections and drop in deep water.

Fishiding's commitment to help the environment, doesn't stop with simply keeping a great deal of pvc from ending up in landfills. In 2013, 112 tons of vinyl siding was reclaimed into artificial fish habitat, keeping it from being buried in a hole somewhere in Illinois or Wisconsin. Carbon neutral shipping via UPS, recycled newspaper for packing, low/no energy use and 94% completely recycled or re-purposed materials to give back to the fish and the environment.

Patents have been issued and production has begun on this new generation of artificial habitat that is reaching to new heights in fishery and habitat management. Groups of these HighRise Habitat units with Vertical UpRiseTM, will create a forest of protection and habitat for every fish species. Pre-order your HighRise Habitat today, as the first of hundreds of new models are setting up to dry, getting ready to plunge into the deep and steep water domain they will flourish within.

All Fishiding Habitat products are produced with pride near northern Illinois. Local material suppliers, labor and staff, all work together to produce the only American hand made, artificial fish habitat product line in the world. Help the land, water and fish, while keeping jobs and business here in the U.S.A. Buy American Strong.

]]>http://www.fishiding.com/recent-fish-habitat-news/potash-second-annual-tournament-benefits-fishery-ovarian-cancer-and-kids/
Sun, 27 Apr 2014 19:00:00 +0000http://www.fishiding.com/recent-fish-habitat-news/potash-second-annual-tournament-benefits-fishery-ovarian-cancer-and-kids/Come join the fun and prizes at this years second annual event! Last year was a huge success and that was only the beginning. The bass are biting, get your entry fee's in soon!

]]>Come join the fun and prizes at this years second annual event! Last year was a huge success and that was only the beginning. The bass are biting, get your entry fee's in soon!